University of Mary Athletics

A dominant player on some of the University of Mary’s most successful softball teams, Nichole (Seaver) Walker was a two-time All-American who led the Marauders to the NAIA World Series three times in the early 2000s.
 
Joining the University of Mary from her hometown of Visalia, Calif., Walker made an immediate impact. A career .350 hitter at the University of Mary, the outfielder was named the DAC-10 Freshman of the Year and earned all-conference and all-region honors as the Marauders won the conference crown, a regional title and made the NAIA World Series in 2002, winning three of five games.
The following season was nearly identical as the Marauders again won the DAC-10, the regional tournament and qualified for the World Series as Walker earned all-conference and all-region honors. The Marauders finished fourth in the country after taking five of seven games, the school’s best finish, and Walker was named to the NAIA all-tournament team.
 
As a junior in 2004, Walker hit .470 for the season and was named the DAC-10 Most Valuable Player. She earned NAIA All-American honors for the first time and repeated as an all-region selection, though the Marauders just missed the national tournament. In her final season, Walker claimed DAC-10 Senior of the Year honors, along with all-region and all-American recognition. Again the Marauders won DAC-10 and regional titles to advance to the NAIA World Series for the final time before beginning the transition to the NCAA the next season.
 
In her four seasons, the Marauders were 131-64 overall, 65-13 in league play, won four DAC-10 titles, captured three regional titles, and went 9-7 at three national championships.
 
The daughter of Greg and Alisha Adams and Ron and Sylvia Seaver, Walker graduated from the University of Mary in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and minors in philosophy and theology. She later earned a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Phoenix in 2007 and is a fourth grade teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School in Avondale, Ariz. Nichole lives in Litchfield Park, Ariz., with her husband, Brett, a 2004 University of Mary graduate, and their children, Mia and Declan.